


The brown box on Barney's lap

by Yuppu



Series: The brown box [2]
Category: The Expendables (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Slice of Life, somewhat angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-28
Updated: 2014-01-28
Packaged: 2018-01-10 07:36:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1156882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuppu/pseuds/Yuppu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The brown box comes back to haunt Gunnar once again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The brown box on Barney's lap

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jesuisherve](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesuisherve/gifts).



> This one is set in the present day. Only in a moment in which Gunnar is particularly sober.

Gunnar came home and to his surprise, Barney didn't answer his grunt.  
It wasn't particularly romantic, but each grunt had a particular meaning to them and Barney not answering the ' _I have groceries, come help me_ ' grunt meant he was lost after something more important.  
Gunnar snorted and left the bags on the kitchen counter, securing them from falling before looking for Barney.  
He wasn't ready for what he found.  
Barney was sitting on the bed with that brown cardboard box, that Gunnar dreaded like death itself, in his lap.  
He was browsing through the pictures, picking up one or the other, and staring intensely at some of them, as if to remember something long forgotten.  
"What are you doing?" His voice sounded so far away from him, Gunnar was surprised when Barney actually raise his head and look at him.  
"Hey... just looking at some pictures, I forgot I even had these..."  
Gunnar's heart sunk and he felt the compelling need to tear the box away from his hands and destroy it and all of its content, to rid himself and the world of that box that had been haunting him for years.  
Instead, he just stood there, motionless, with a faint feeling of sickness lingering on his tongue.  
"Barney, can you stop?"  
Barney turned his head from the box again, confused by the urge in his voice. "Why, are you alright?" He moved the box on the bed and walked towards the Swede, who in turn took a step back.  
"... Gunnar, what's the matter?"  
"Why are you doing that?"  
"Doing what? Gunnar, they're old pictures-"  
"Why were they in the back of the closet? Why have I never seen those in all these years?"  
Seeing Gunnar so aggressive stopped Barney on his steps.  
"How did you know they were in the back of the closet?"  
"I don't- can you put them back, now, please?"  
"Gunnar-"  
"Please." He pleaded, almost desperately, gritting his teeth.  
Barney glanced ad the pictures scattered on the bed. "... they're just old pictures, Gun..."  
"Goddamnit, Barney!" Gunnar backed himself up to the living room, ready to storm out of the door to regain what little control over himself he desperately needed.  
Barney caught up to him and weighed on the door to block his way out.  
"Let me through."  
"Tell me why you're so afraid of those damn pictures, Gunnar."  
"I said let me through!"  
"I swear to God I won't move until the end of time if you don't tell me!"  
"I was afraid I would end up in that fucking box too!"  
Barney squinted, thinking for a moment that Gunnar had completely lost his mind. "Gunnar..."  
"Look, I've seen those pictures, alright? I did. It was twelve years ago. I saw the pictures of you and that guy and it scared me to death, ok?"  
"Why would some old pictures be so terrifying?"  
"Because you forgot him, Barney. You forgot him, you closed him in that box and that was it and you never spoke of him again. And you looked at him the same way you look at me and if you close me in a box too, I am nothing. I built my life around you, if you leave me and close me in that box, I am worse than dead." He hissed, his heart heavier with every word he spat out and his eyes stinging from the tears he was fighting to keep in.  
Barney felt a knot in his throat and he took Gunnar's head in his hands, forcing him to look him in the eye.  
"How could you ever for a second think that I could live without you, you shithead?" He growled, angry.  
It made him sad and angry and sick that Gunnar would put himself in comparison with someone he knew nothing about.  
"I'd sooner die than forget you."  
Gunnar grimaced and pushed his forehead to his, letting that weight on his chest go with a long, deep sigh.  
"... can you put them away anyway, please? I don't like knowing you look at them..."  
"I can do better..."  
Barney forced himself to pull away from Gunnar and went back to the bedroom, picking up the pictures without even looking and stuffing them back in the box.  
Gunnar followed him and kept following him to the back yard, where Barney placed the box on the lawn and fumbled in his pocket for his lighter.  
He set fire to a couple of pictures and let them light up the whole box.  
Barney went back to Gunnar and took a cigar from his shirt's pocket, his eyes locked on the flames.  
"... thank you."  
"It was long overdue. I thought of doing that every time I saw that damn box anyway."  
"Why didn't you do it sooner, then?"  
"Because I never thought it could harm you. And I'm not keeping something that can do that."  
Gunnar said nothing, but he leaned on Barney with half a sigh.  
He almost felt bad in thinking it, but that was the best love declaration he could ever want from him.


End file.
